Sharice Davids won Tuesday's Democratic
primary in deep-red Kansas.
Davids is the state's first Native
American and openly gay congressional candidate.
She'll face incumbent Kevin Yoder, a
Republican, in November. Yoder has represented the people of Kansas'
3rd congressional district since 2011. Prior to becoming
a member of the House of Representatives, Yoder was a state
representative from 2003 to 2011.
“What’s really pleasing to me is
she is America in a nutshell. She is the changing face of America and
she represents the changing face of the third district as well,”
Third
District Democratic Chair Andy Sandler told ABC affiliate KMBC.
“I think we can expect better than a squeeker result come
November."
Davids is among the 400 LGBT candidates
running for elected office in the fall. Roughly half of these
rainbow candidates are running for state offices.
“Having LGBT people sitting in the
room while decisions are being made, and sitting there as peers, will
shift the conversation,” Davids
recently told The
New York Times. “I think it's important that the lived
experiences and the point of view of LGBT folks be included in
conversations that affect all of us.”
(Related: Record
number of LGBT candidates running for office in November.)